Tag Archives: The Guardian

Kirstie Allsopp and Spinsters

Posted on by

Did you hear that Kirstie Allsopp had pontificated on how young women should plan their lives? Surprise surprise, she thinks they should all do as she did and not bother going to university but just go out and get a job. That is easier said than done though she probably found it a simple task as she went to a posh school, the sort of place that people send their kids to so that they can rub shoulders with wealthy and influential families and gain lots of contacts for use in later life. Education is the least of their wishes.

Well we don’t all have those sorts of advantages (?) in life and nowadays a degree is required for just about any career, gone are the days when you could just get a job and work your way up the career ladder, learning by experience.

What really annoyed me though was her assumption that all women wanted to get married and have children. According to her we should all be married and sprogged up by the time we are 27 because apparently your fertility falls off the edge of a cliff as soon as you are 35. That’s absolute nonsense of course and I speak as a person who was born to a 36 year old woman, and she wasn’t even trying to get pregnant, in fact she was trying to dodge that particular event as she already had four kids before having me. I’m the product of a failed ‘Dutch cap’ apparently so I wasn’t so much an afterthought as an aftershock!

Coincidently Jack’s mother gave birth to him at the age of 36 and he came as a bit of a shock too, what can I say, – our parents were just careless I suppose. My paternal grandmother had her eighth and last child when she was in her 40s, she didn’t leave the house for months, she was so mortified to be in that state at such a great age. And think of Cherie Blair who was pregnant in her 40s twice, each time unplanned.

At the same time that all the Kirstie Allsopp stuff was in the papers there was also an article in the Guardian by Claudia Connell, which you can read here. It’s called Don’t Call Me a Spinster and it’s about her experiences as an unmarried woman, at the hands of her supposed friends, she writes:

There have been so many occasions when I’ve revealed that I’m single only to have the person I’m talking to say: “Really? But you seem so nice.” That’s because I am nice. I don’t kick puppies for fun or push old ladies down manholes – I just don’t have a husband and it doesn’t bother me half as much as it seems to bother everyone else.

My honest answer to the question “Why did you never marry?” would be the same as my answer to why I’ve never visited Canada, ridden a horse or broken my arm: I don’t know, it just didn’t happen.

and also:
The unattached woman is to be pitied and mocked while the unattached man is to be envied and respected. A simple game of word association is enough to hammer home the point. Think of the word “spinster” and what images pop into your head? Now do the same with “bachelor”. A Miss Marple figure surrounded by cats and coupons for us and a suntanned hunk in a sports car for him – am I right?

I of course have never had any such experiences as I got married at the crazy age of 17, and no I wasn’t pregnant! But I do think that the word ‘spinster’ should be reclaimed and brought back to its original meaning. A woman who was designated a spinster was describing herself as an independent woman who was in no need of a man to support her as she was able to do so quite well herself thank you. A woman with the ability to spin wool could keep a roof over her head and feed herself at a time when the production of wool was very lucrative.

Apart from that though, I have an old family friend who never married and she said to me that when she looked around her church at the husbands that the women had to put up with, she was very glad that she had never bothered with marriage and children, she is however a wonderful aunt. Each to their own I say.

Mary Stewart 1916-2014

Posted on by

It was with sadness but no surprise that I read Mary Stewart’s obituary in the Guardian yesterday, after all she was 97. I think I’ve read most of her books over the years but it is her Merlin trilogy which I enjoyed most, years later she added another two books to the series.

I read the Merlin ones as they were first published, having to wait for the next one to be written and I remember that I had always meant to write to her as in one of the books she had mentioned King Arthur being at Dumbarton Castle, I wanted to ask her if she had entirely made that up or she had seen it written in an old document or book. But I never did get around to writing that letter, and having read her obituary I think maybe she wouldn’t have appreciated letters from readers, as she was such a private person.

We probably do have to thank a disastrous ectopic pregnancy and subsequent peritonitis which meant that she couldn’t have any children for her being able to write at all. Apparently she had wanted four children and if she had then any thoughts of having a writing career would probably have gone out the window for a good number of years anyway.

You can read some tributes from authors which appeared in yesterday’s Guardian here.

Although Mary Stewart was born in the north of England she did marry a Scot and lived most of her life in Scotland, so she definitely qualifies as a Scottish author for the Read Scotland 2014 challenge.

A Country Walk

Posted on by

path by burn

Are you coming for a walk with me? I’m going to get the Guardian, it might be a good idea to get your wellies on.

Balbirnie burn

There has been quite a lot of rain recently so it’s a wee bit muddy in parts. You can just see a bit of Balbirnie Burn in the photo above.

burn at Balbirnie

Here’s some more of it, you’ll just have to imagine all the birdsong, there are plenty of them singing away and even woodpeckers hammering, but I haven’t seen any woodpeckers. There are plenty of rabbits around and also grey squirrels but I’ve only seen one deer so far.

Balbirnie burn

Now we’re almost reaching what some folks would call civilisation, the edge of Balbirnie golf course. It seems to be very well used.

trees near Balbirnie

Jack always enjoys watching the play but he has never been tempted to join in, thankfully! You can see from the photo above that we were walking on the rough, everyone seems to be quite happy about that, I wouldn’t like to go across the greens.

rhoddies

Balbirnie Estate is well known locally for its rhododendrons and the photo above shows some early ones, it gets much better later in May. I decided not to bother growing any in the garden because there are such good ones nearby.

Balbirnie estate gates

And here we are, almost at the wee town where we can get the newspaper, it’s about a twenty minute walk for us. The photo above is of a lodge house which originally would have belonged to the Balbirnie Estate, the big gates are always closed now and the road to what is now Balbirnie House Hotel has been redirected, making a bigger entrance.

I hope you enjoyed that breath of fresh Fife air, I must admit, it’s a great way of keeping fit, and the Guardian crossword helps keep our brains sharp – I hope!

The Guardian – Overlooked Novels

Posted on by

In the Guardian today there’s an article about overlooked novels, you can have a look at it here.

I must admit that I’ve read only one of them and that is The Young Visiters, I have an ancient copy of it somewhere. I’d be interested to know if anyone has read any of the others.

Eleswhere in the Guardian I read that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short stories are being de-sanitized. Apparently they were cleaned up by editors who removed references to drug-taking, sexual innuendo, anti-semitism and such. You can read about it here.

Of course, times change and I’ve been surprised that a couple of the books which I have read recently had male characters who addressed their fiancees as my dear child.

I don’t know about you, but I would have taken exception to being spoken to like that and depending on my mood (I’m a Gemini so you never know which one you’re going to get) – I would either have reached for my rolling pin or headed for the hills, never to be seen again by the creep!

I wonder if my dear child-ing a grown woman was ever in common usage, or is it just a strange coincidence that I’ve come across it in two books – on the trot, so to speak.

From the Guardian

Posted on by

It’s ages since I’ve linked to anything from the Guardian Review, in fact I haven’t even had the time or inclination to read it, I’ve just been too busy with domestic stuff. Anyway, here’s a selection that I thought some people might find quite interesting.

The MY HERO article is by Michael Ondaatje and Jhumpa Lahin and their hero is the writer Mavis Gallant. I must admit that I haven’t read anything by her, but it looks like I should rectify that.

Kathryn Hughes enjoyed reading Dreams of the Good Life: The Life of Flora Thompson and the Creation of Lark Rise to Candleford.

There’s an article about a new exhibition at the British Museum – Vikings: Life and Legend. And by the way – we in Scotland would like our Lewis chessmen back thank you!

There’s a new book out about that perennial mystery ship the Mary Celeste, you can read about it here.

This year is of course the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. Did you know that over a million Indian soldiers fought on the British side. Find out more in The last post by Daljit Nagra.

And from the main section of the newspaper an article about independent bookshops being in decline. Well we all know that but thankfully some are still struggling on.

I hope you find something to interest you in those links.

The Guardian Review 02.11.13

Posted on by

For those who don’t read the Guardian Review I’m just going to link to a few articles which appeared in last Saturday’s Review which I think some people might find interesting.

It’s fifty years since JFKs asssassination, here is a list of the ten best books inspired by it.

Albert Camus seems to be flavour of the moment in the paper and on radio. I haven’t read anything by him yet but I think I’ll remedy that soon. Geoff Dyer writes about him here.

Are you a Penelope Fitzgerald fan? I haven’t read anything by her for some time but there’s a new biography of her out now – Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life by Hermione Lee, have a look at Philip Hensher’s review here.

Today in the car I was listening to Margaret Drabble being interviewed on the radio, speaking about her new book The Pure Gold Baby amongst other things. I’m putting it on my ‘must read’ list. Have a look at Alex Clark’s review here.

Last but certainly not least if you’re keen on Doctor Who you might want to read this article by Simon Winder.

Sometimes there are only a couple of articles in the review which really interest me, this was a particularly good one.

The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak

Posted on by

I hadn’t even heard of this book until I saw that Judith (Reader in the Wilderness) was reading it. I was drawn to it by the 18th century Russian setting, so when I realised there was a copy sitting on a shelf at my local library I dashed there to borrow it. It was published in 2011.

I did enjoy this book but at 440 pages I felt that it was just too long and it would have been improved by being pruned here and there. I liked the descriptions of palaces, old and new and it was a treat to be reading historical fiction which didn’t have an English Tudor setting. Also, although I’ve read a fair amount about Russian history, like most people I suspect I’ve concentrated on the last gasps of Imperial Russia so this was all quite new to me and as Eva Stachniak seems to have done a lot of research on the era I imagine that she has just woven this story around actual facts.

Varvara is a young orphan, originally from Poland, her father had been an excellent bookbinder which is why he ends up moving his wife and family to Russia where he becomes Empress Elizabeth’s bookbinder at St Petersburg. Varvara’s mother is the first to die, followed fairly swiftly by her father, but he had managed to get an introduction to the Empress for Varvara which eventually led to her becoming a ‘tongue’ a spy for Empress Elizabeth.

The whole court is full of people spying and informing on others but Varvara is given the job of befriending Sophie, a young Prussian princess who is being considered as a bride for Empress Elizabeth’s young nephew. The storyline doesn’t quite hold together as the whole book is about spies and duplicity but Varvara isn’t supposed to have realised that she herself was also being spied on and there were plenty other ‘Varvaras’ at the court.

The young Sophie has her name changed to Catherine and does of course eventually become Catherine the Great, obviously there is another book to come.

Below is a photograph from the Guardian of The Hermitage Pavillion just outside St Petersburg. A summer palace for Catherine the Great, doesn’t it look fab in its autumnal setting.

The hermitage Palace St Petersburg

Penelope Lively and Fanny Trollope from the Guardian

Posted on by

It’s nearly the weekend again and I’m just getting around to linking to a couple of the articles which appeared in last Saturday’s Guardian review, where does the time go?

Anyway, if you’re interested in Penelope Lively you might be like to read her article on old age.

And Lucy Ellmann writes about her hero – Fanny Trollope.

David Bowie’s Books – from the Guardian

Posted on by

If you fancy having a look at David Bowie’s list of 100 must read books, you can see it here.

I’ve only read two from the entire list: Muriel Spark’s Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four – and those were both read for school work, many moons ago. I bet everyone else has done better – do tell.

Lucy Mangan – on secondhand bookshops

Posted on by

I always enjoy Lucy Mangan’s column in the Guardian Weekend section but this week’s is about secondhand bookshops. So just in case you don’t read the Guardian routinely, but also have a love for those wonderful serendipitous shops, I thought I would link to her article
which you can read here.

Now I’m just annoyed that Norfolk is so far away from me and I didn’t find any of the bookshops when we were near there briefly last year.